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Google slapped with $1.2 million fine for breaking privacy laws

Published Dec 19th, 2013 10:00PM EST
Google Privacy Law Violations

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Google is in trouble once again, and this time it’s not for something nearly as subtle as giant, mysterious barges floating in U.S. waters. Reuters reports that Google is being fined €900,000 ($1.23 million USD) for breaking Spain’s data protection law, the maximum fine possible under the law. Spain’s privacy watchdog started its investigation after Google changed the privacy policies on its cloud-based services without informing users.

“Inspections have shown that Google compiles personal information through close to one hundred services and products it offers in Spain, without providing in many cases the adequate information about the data that is being gathered, why it is gathered and without obtaining the consent of the owners,” said the Spanish Agency for Data Protection in a statement.

This is not the first fine that Google has been asked to pay for a breach of privacy this year. In fact, a Dutch regulator accused Google of breaking a nearly identical law just last month. Google is currently working with Spain to resolve the issue.

Jacob Siegal
Jacob Siegal Associate Editor

Jacob Siegal is Associate Editor at BGR, having joined the news team in 2013. He has over a decade of professional writing and editing experience, and helps to lead our technology and entertainment product launch and movie release coverage.